Why are My iTunes Downloads so Slow?

My feelings exactly. I particularly resent the fact that they point everyone to misleading side issues such as your server, DNS etc etc sending them in ever decreasing circles of frustration. We all kmow this is a lie since other services stream and download perfectly on exactly the same lines.

They are arrogant and hig handed and they are inviting the competition to step up and take a share.

I only try itunes if for some reason Netflix , Amazon or Googl haven't the title the family wants to see.

My last effort was three days for an HD movie, tending the computer day and night.

I don't rent movies either. I have an attic full of DVD's, videotapes, and laserdiscs, over 1000 titles in all. And since iTunes launched, I've been collecting digital films from them. The problem is their accessibility. And that *is* Apple's problem. Yes, Akamai provides hosting, but Apple contracted them. If Akamai cannot keep up with the demand, Apple is legally bound to find a solution. They have no choice in the matter.

At the end of the day, it comes down to a poor decision by Apple's management. We all screamed for the ability to download previous purchases, and we finally got it. But Apple chose to take it a step further and push everything to the streaming model, without ensuring they could handle the traffic.

As for the DNS issue, there's nothing to convince me of. Using 4.4.2.2 is illegal, unless you're a customer of Level-3 in the mid-western United States. I did try it briefly, but all that did was route traffic from Missouri. That's even further away, and slower than Boston. Google's public DNS works fine, but the results are identical to my own ISP. Both send me to the Boston server farms, which are overloaded. Sure, some users will get better results from Google *if* their ISP is incompetent, and doesn't host a proper DNS service. But that isn't the case here.

Re Amazon Prime, I've been using that service for years, but not to watch movies. I don't know why Amazon added that nonsense, frankly. The service was designed for one thing -- free two-day shipping, and discounted overnight shipping. Anything else is a shiny bauble, and pointless.

I guess I don't know the history you're referring to of downloading previous purchases. I do know items we purchased years ago in 720p can now be re-downloaded/streamed at 1080 without me even asking. A nice free upgrade.

I also don't know about it being illegal to use DNS servers that are out there and accessible by anyone. They could easily block any IP address that isn't their own if they wanted to stop it, so I don't think that burden is really on me.

I'm not a network troubleshooter and don't claim to understand why the change in this one setting worked for me. I have witnessed the same problem with other brands like Netflix and even more severely with YouTube, all of which have been resolved for me by using an alternate DNS. That suggests to me it's not Apple's problem. I'll leave it to someone smarter than me to figure out.

You said you'd leave it up to someone smarter than you... We're here. It pays nothing for you to defend Apple's disrespect for its customer base. I recommend that you stop trying to fix problems you know nothing about for companies you have no vested interest in.

I was wondering how long it would take you to descend into personal attacks. Seems a popular trend with people who troll these kinds of forums to turn mean and insulting when the argument doesn't go their way.

I'm glad you are so sure you are smarter than others. Let's see where it gets you.

I didn't insult you, nor do I "troll forums". I implied that "we" are smarter. That's not an insult. Your misunderstanding of that (i.e., the prospect of me being smarter than you equating to an insult in your mind) is actually a passive aggressive manifestation of your desire to insult me.

Regarding my cockiness, and "see where that gets you": Let's see, I just got back from a trip on my 2012 Cobia 296 to Palm Beach where I had lunch with my wife, so worry about yourself (which was the original message, anyway). I'm not sure where you got the notion that being a bit cocky from time to time is bad or somehow leads to failure.

hi all ... long time lurker as this problem has been ongoing ... recently wanted to set up iTunes on my (relatively) new laptop so ended up clicking "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" on my desktop so i could export the libray to the laptop ... worked great for my 900+ CD's of ripped music (and playlists) but not so much for videos/TV shows/books ... anyway ... a week later desktop iTunes still hasn't finished DL-ing Season 1 & 2 of Game of Thrones .. so i end up reading this (big) thread ... may try the DNS fix, but as others have pointed out, we shouldn't have to ...oh! - forgot why i chiose to post: yesterday was cleaning up my desktop (uninstalled Office 2007, installed Office 2010, uninstalled Adobe Web Premium 5, installed v 6, uninstalled SAS v9.2, installed SAS v9.2 and in all that also unistalled all my Java RSE's & updates and today, again, reading this thread saw one post where they said they could see where Akami was ending them (i.e., all over the world) so i started to open Visual Route and was reminded *it* required Java ... so over to Java.com to DL the latest runt time environment ... 30MB at over 10Mbps ... meanwhile Apple is still sending my Game of Thrones episode @ c. 1-1.5 Mbps ... un-phcking-believable

OK - finally finished DL-ing one episode of Game of Thrones *AND* since i finally found where the DL "center" is, turned off "Allow simultaneous downlaods" and will wait till end of day to DL remaining episodes b/c i have 20 app updates ... and they're DL-ing EVEN SLOWER than the TVs/movies .... < 1Mbps ... to repeat myself: un-phcking-believable

I have given up on itunes. If Netflix hasn't got it there is a good chance Amazon does and they download at a reasonable speed most of the time. .Amazon you can stream or download .I couldn't get their Unbox PC player to work properly but you can watch your rentals using Windows media.

Why does Netflix stream so well even on slow services like mine?

It's now been a few weeks since I changed my DNS servers, and my downloads from iTunes are happening at blistering speeds. I just downloaded an HD movie in less than 15 minutes. Downloads have been consistent accross all platforms. This is not an iTunes problem. Incidentally, even my Netflix streams of House of Cards have imporved with the new DNS. All you need to do is to find what the fastest DNS servers are in your area. If you don't know, use Google's. 8.8.8.8 It hasn't been as fast 4.2.2.2 for me but it might be better for some.

Report your findings here if you solve your peoblem so everyone can stay informed. Meanwhile stop the senseless Apple bashing. I've found their customer service to be unparalelled not only at the stores, but on the phone too. They just replaced my 3 years old iMac monitor which was already out of warranty because of a known problem. I had already expected to trash it. It was going to be a $900 fix. It's now as good as new.

I'm glad if his worked out for you. I have tried various DNS without any measurable change. Also, why should I need to do this when all my other services work fine without any fiddling about ?

As for service I have found Amazon and Google to be much more responsive and also not high handed and GFY as Apple apperas to be on this forum.

In Sweden we just got the new 1080p content so went and redownloaded my movies

and it's dam ******* slow it's telling me it will take 230 hours and I'm on 24/2 mbps ADSL connection

have no idea why it's so slow, looks like the download is going from USA instead of from europe.

Not sure if this will work for anyone else, but i will share anyway. I was downloading two movies at the same time and one was 10 minutes and the other was 6 hours. I decided to go back and purchase the film again knowing that it would tell me i have already purchased it but not downloaded it. After doing this it went down to 7 minutes.

Im not sure if it was a fluke or it actually did something, but it's worth a go if nothing else works!

It's because Apple is the problem. I have been ordering and watching HD movies via my apple tv for about a year and the HD movies start within approx 5 seconds and play right through in real time to the end of the movie. Never had an issue at all until tonight. For the first time ever it said it would by ready in 5 hours and fifty seven minutes , huh? to watch a simple HD movie , ***? I stopped the slow asse download, demanded my money back from apple itunes via email ( as you cant call them) and watched the same movie via my cable company instead. If this happens again I will trash my Apple TV and say by to apple forever. It has to work 100 percent or its useless ( when you have friends over and popcorn ready and all that stuff this is inexcusable) . Of course I rebooted the Apple tv and the Internet was fine for everything except the Apple TV.

So stop wasting your time thinking its anything but Apples servers.

Apple, fix yer stuff!!!

I dont think that Apple cares about a user whos isn´t able to read the comments, especially the comments solving that problem.

If you are too dumb to read, dont blame others.

Or you are just another guy trolling the forums.